From a distance it looks like a Blackberry. One can be forgiven to assume it is. Even its feature list reads like one from a 2-year old Blackberry Curve 8300. So what features set this new LG GW300 apart from the other Blackberry and Blackberry look-alikes and wannabees?
Actually there’s none. It’s got no Wi-Fi. No 3G or high speed network support to breeze through internet surging, No trendy brilliant large touchscreen to impress your friends. No high resolution camera. No GPS. None of just about the most impressive features we’ve come to know should be there in a modern mid-priced mobile phone. In short, the LG GW300 is a dated phone right out of the box.
Do we have winner here?
It just might be. LG is positioning this phone as an entry-level QWERTY phone for the social networking geeks on the road. Its unimpressive features seem to suggest this is an old phone repackaged from the outside with a new façade and some nifty application to woo the new social media crowd out there. It’s got a Facebook application bundled with the handset, an email client and a capable web browser. But it’s just a GSM mobile phone with a 2.4” QVGA screen and the usual nod to 2-megapixel camera phones that was a rage 2-3 years ago. There’s FM radio, media players, Bluetooth 2.0 and a 3.5mm stereo audio socket.
In short, it’s an all-around phone for just about all the functions we know mobile phones have. Nothing spectacular. It’s “300” model designation does indicate its way down the ladder as LG phones go in the product range. So it has got to be really cheap. Extremely affordable, to say the least. QWERTY mobile phones are not exactly known to be cheap so this one from LG could be a real ticket for the masses.
There has been talk about the N900, the Linux based Nokia phone, for quite a few months now but with not much official word from Nokia itself. It had been thought that Nokia were likely to make an announcement in the next few weeks but they have gone and surprised many be doing so earlier than expected. Many had been speculating that Nokia would be making a foray into the world of Linux due to the outdated status of its Symbian platform.
Nokia however have said this is not a permanent switchover and is being implemented on the N900 to cater for different market needs. By the looks of the new Debian based Maemo OS however, it could prove so popular with consumers that Nokia will think about using it more on future devices instead of Symbian.
The Maemo 5 OS looks to be quite innovative and could take its place as one of the best mobile phone OS’ on the market today. Operating on a desktop style system users can easily switch between screens and apps either by a simple finger stroke or the touch of a single button. The Maemo has been praised for its multitasking abilities which see it being capable of running dozens of apps at once, unlike the OS found on main competitors like the Apple iPhone.
Regardless of the OS which will be attracting a lot of attention on its own, the N900 is also feature rich in just about every other area. There is a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens that also supports highly detailed video recording, as well as a very functional media player. Being a cross between phone and internet tablet the N900 is full of web-oriented features. It is designed to be ‘always connected’ which you would think would drain its battery but Nokia state it can go for 2-4 days in this manner. There is also a Mozilla based browser with support for Flash, and the email client supports Microsoft Exchange.
The N900 should be released in October although no exact date is known, and it will cost around €500, which works out at about £430.
People have been talking about the rumoured N97 Mini for some months now. Back in July pictures emerged showing the N97 next to what appeared to be a smaller version of itself. More information has been quite scant about the baby N97 until a French website just released new images of the device. The new images give a glimpse at what may be the reality of the N97 Mini and the French website also offered some indication of specifications.
Like the N97 the N97 Mini will run on Symbian S60 5th Edition and will come with the same slide out QWERTY pad only on a smaller scale. The screen has been scaled down a notch from 3.5″ to 3″ and the internal memory will be a smaller 8 or 16GB compared to the N97’s 32GB. This scaling down of specifications should also result in a reduction in price which will come as good news for fans of the N97 who are not big fans of its hefty price tag.
In other news more information has emerged about another Nokia phone that could eclipse interest even in the Nokia N97 Mini. The new N900 is a tablet-style handset that also features a slide out QWERTY pad much in the style of the N97. Like the latter phone, the N900 will also come with 32GB internal memory and also a 5 megapixel camera is thought to be included. The main area of interest with the N900, however, is that it will see Nokia making a departure from their favoured OS, Symbian, and instead making use of Maemo 5.
The N900 appears to be in the latter stages of development and Nokia will most likely make an official announcement in the next few weeks. As interest in the phone is already growing steadily it could look to be one of the most successful releases of the year and is expected to be available sometime in Q4.
Nokia has just announced a new touchscreen handset that they plan to release, this time aimed at the low-cost entry level market. Although it is low-cost it still has a great range of features that you would expect from a more expensive phone and much of the price reduction seems to have come from the decision by Nokia to leave out Wi-Fi support.
The 5230 only comes with a 2 megapixel camera which is to be expected from a low-end phone although there is no news on what other features will be involved (for example, if there is a flash). The camera does record VGA video at 30fps which you would not expect from a phone like this so it is possible that there will be other options on board.
Using Symbian S60, the 5230 has a 3.2″ resistive touch sensitive screen with a resolution of 640 x 360. There is support for Ovi Maps which makes use of the phone’s GPS receiver and there is full integration for online services like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. On top of this there is an integrated web browser, email client and support for Microsoft Exchange.
There is great support for music with all the functionality that comes from Symbian. Together with the media player you can also tune into FM radio and you can listen to both of these through headphones inserted into the 3.5mm audio jack. You can stick quite a bit of music on board with microSD cards which can bump the storage up to 16GB.
The 5230 looks like it will offer quite a lot for the price that is rumoured to be attached to it. Much of the price reduction seems to stem from the omission of Wi-Fi support which also appears to be its biggest drawback. If you can make do without Wi-Fi however the 5230 looks like an excellent choice for a low cost touchscreen phone and it should be available during Q4 of 2009.
The internet mobile phone sites are buzzed with the announced first Android mobile phone from Sony Ericsson. For a long time, we have known code name “Rachel” to be percolating a radical new phone and speculations are rife that it would be another flagship Xperia. Well, the Expansys site has gotten wind of the new phone with cool pictures and more-or-less complete feature list that’s quite impressive. Looks like Rachel will be released as the Sony Ericsson Xperia 3.
A mobile phone to die for
From pictures on the net, there are good enough reasons to say that Sony Ericsson has a sure hit on its hands. The form design alone gives Xperia 3 a unique appeal to the hip crowd wanting a full-featured fashion phone to match or better the iPhone. There’s an expansive 4” screen said to display at 800×400 pixels which makes it one of the largest out there.
The one impressive feature is its 8-mega pixel camera which is presumably a Cybershot heritage. With 8x digital zoon, autofocus, LED flash, image stabilization and face/smile shutter, it should be no surprise it will be a force to reckon with the camera phone markets. VGA recording is support though the site is quiet on what frame rates are used.
Internet browsing should be a breeze. It’s basically a quad-band GPS/GPRS/EDGE smartphone and a dual-band 3G with support for high speed HSDPA and HSUPA networks.
Europe and Asia can now own one
All the other features are pretty much competitive with you have out there for any mobile phone in this class and price range. Expansys is already busy taking in pre-orders but with the price still in limbo. Fans in the US may have to wait a bit longer as Expansys orders only apply for European and Asian markets. We hope the price won’t be a barrier to owning one. But don’t expect this phone to be dirt cheap.
A relatively small British mobile phone manufacturer, Onyx, is hoping to get a foothold in the market with the release of its three new handsets. Onyx are soon to be releasing the phones, the Flip, the Slider and the Nero, in an attempt to fill in the gaps in the mobile phone market.
The new phones are dual-sim, meaning you can place two sim cards in them at once. This allows people to have one handset for both business and personal calls and also to make it easier and cheaper to make phone calls and send or receive messages abroad.
The Flip is a simple clam-shell phone that supports dual-sim usage. The Flip is aimed at the style conscious in terms of its design and Onyx hope that it will be useful to those who use multiple tariffs. Because it uses dual-sim it should help multi-tariff phone users to save quite a bit of money and on top of this also save some money while abroad.
The Slider is also dual-sim and comes with the same benefits as the Flip because of it, but is more music oriented. There is also email functionality and a 2 megapixel camera on board. There are the same benefits for being abroad and saving money on tariffs but with more emphasis on entertainment.
The Nero benefits from the dual-sim nature of both the Flip and Slider, and also the email and camera features of the Slider. The additional feature for the Nero is its desirable touchscreen. Onyx also state that they have more handsets in the line up, with an 8 megapixel snapper, a Windows Mobile device, and an Android phone with 5 megapixel camera. They have not given any more official information or release dates for these announced phones just yet though.
One look at it and you could be thinking it’s another expensive QWERTY phone. It’s a QWERTY phone alright but certainly not expensive. Korean mobile phone maker LG is positioning its new GW300 as an entry-level QWERTY phone for the masses for release this coming September. As it should. Apart from an updated Bluetooth 2.0 and Facebook application bundled with the handset, the LG GW300 offers no standout feature that can make it competitive with mid-priced mobile phones in the market.
A simple feature set for the masses
There’s no mistake that its feature set is as good as any entry level or even mid-priced mobile phones out there. The LG GW300, by every indication in its press release, is a cursory nod to everything we’ve come to know in a versatile all-around phone that’s a “jack of all trade.” Check out these simple features to see what we mean.
It sports a candybar form factor with 2.4” QVGA 256k colour screen and a QWERTY keypad that’s just as useful to your fingers as any in the market.
It’s a Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone with 2.5G network support.
There’s a cursory 2.0 mega pixel camera that’s just about standard in many low-end mobile phones
Media players supporting popular audio and video codecs and an FM player com standard
There’s a 3.5mm stereo audio jack for high fidelity headphones
There’s a microSD expansion slot for up to 8 GB.
LG clearly meant the phone to be an all-around phone with no singular remarkable feature to set it apart. That’s quite appropriate for an entry phone QWERTY that we expect to come reasonably priced for the masses to afford. But don’t expect it to be a steal. It’s still a QWERTY phone.
The Symbian S60-powered Nokia 6790 Slide smartphone, fondly dubbed “Surge” and “Mako” is Nokia’s answer to the social media networking crowd. Boasting of a QWERTY slider keyboard, the new handset comes pre-installed with a proprietary JuiceCaster application that allows instant access and updates on your Twitter, MySpace and Facebook sites over the internet. Its popular S60 browser comes with Java and Flash support to make surfing no different on the road as it is at home.
Great feature/price ratio for a Slider
Some leading-edge features come with a very friendly price package for the Nokia 6790 Slide. They include the following:
A 2.4″ 16M-color QVGA screens may not be the largest out there for a full QWERTY slider, but it’s a very capable display for truly vivid photos and videos.
It’s essentially a Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps high speed network support for fast surfing and downloading on the internet
Nokia puts in media players that supports the popular audio codecs WMA, MP3 and AAC and video codecs H.263, H.264 and WMV The Surge also comes with Cellular Video support allowing you to enjoy some TV content as well as Video Exchange
It has a secondary QVGA camera on the façade to support video calls.
There’s Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP for wireless headsets and a 2.5 mm stereo audio jack for your favourite high fidelity ones.
The Nokia Surge is powered by the huge 1500 mA battery that has delivered impressive talk times on other Nokia phones such as the E72. While no data is yet available, ample talk and standby times are expected for its hefty battery size.
Its 128 Mb internal memory is expandable up to 8GB through the microSD card slot.
Just don’t expect a top class camera phone from the Nokia 6790 Slide. It’s got a mere 2 megapixel camera, good enough for casual phot shoots though. But for sure, this is an all-around QWERTY slider phone to beat in its price range and class.
The Android OS gets another boost with the first Sony Ericsson mobile phone to use the new platform – Xperia X3. Code-named “Rachel” in its development stage, the new handset has a few specs already revealed in the electronics shop Expansys site. It certainly packs a wallop, apart from its gorgeous design that is sure to take the market by storm.
Amazing Flagship Feature Set
Initial peek into its features suggest no less than a flagship model from Sony Ericsson is in the works. Here are some of the highlights
It is a Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and a Dual-Band 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA for a truly fast web surfing and download speeds over the internet
A 4” WVGA resolution touchscreen dominates the handset and makes it one of the largest in the market for a non-QWERTY phone. It comes with the Rachel user interface developed on its Android OS.
Its Cybershot-based camera resolution is at the top of the chain boasting 8 mega pixels with autofocus, LED flash, 8x digital zoom, image stabilization and face/smile recognition.
Walkman Media player support for all the popular audio and video codecs come standard with VGA video recording as well.
There’s the expected support for Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support and an alternate music standard 3.5mm stereo audio jack fir using your favourite stereo earphones.
It has microSDHC memory slot support and presumably should go as high as 16 GB.
There’s also A-GPS navigation application built-in
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11g, mini-USB and Email support for MS Exchange are all there.
An Upscale Price for an Upscale Phone
While the company is still silent on its pricing, the Expansys site is already accepting pre-orders for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X3. With its leading features and elegant design, expect this first Android handset from Sony Ericsson to debut at an upscale price.
For a GSM phone, the GW300 provides quite a lot. It has a full QWERTY keyboard, a built in media player, FM radio, Micro SD compatibility, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm audio jack and a mini USB port. The only connectivity option that the LG GW300 offers is through GPRS since this device still lacks any WiFi, 3G or HSDPA compatibility. The 2 mega pixel camera is a little low tech as compared to the other basic GSM phones that are already out in the market and the lack of a touch screen makes the presence of the QWERTY keyboard a little questionable.
Creating a mobile device with a full keyboard is currently a bad idea in this era of touch screen devices. A touch screen offers a larger screen and the option of having an onscreen keyboard and a really easy point and click interface. On the other hand, a full physical QWERTY keyboard greatly restricts the device in terms of overall dimensions and screen size. Also, since mobile devices are also used more often with one hand, navigating a menu on a full keyboard can be quite a challenging task.
The GW300 Pays Homage to a Great Mobile Device
In terms of specifications and capabilities, LG has given us a mobile device that closely resembles the original BlackBerry Curve 8300. Sadly, this similarity is to the disadvantage of the GW300 since the Curve 8300 is an outdated two year old device. Still, for a basic GSM phone, the GW300 is going out on a limb by providing a semblance of a smart phone for none smart phone users. Though the existence or feasibility of this market is doubtful; none smart phone users do not really care for the extra features anyway, and those that do, will actually buy smart phones.
From a distance it looks like a Blackberry. One can be forgiven to assume it is. Even its feature list reads like one from a 2-year old Blackberry Curve 8300. So what features set this new LG GW300 apart from the other Blackberry and Blackberry look-alikes and wannabees?
There has been talk about the N900, the Linux based Nokia phone, for quite a few months now but with not much official word from Nokia itself. It had been thought that Nokia were likely to make an announcement in the next few weeks but they have gone and surprised many be doing so earlier than expected. Many had been speculating that Nokia would be making a foray into the world of Linux due to the outdated status of its Symbian platform.
People have been talking about the rumoured N97 Mini for some months now. Back in July pictures emerged showing the 
N97. Like the latter phone, the N900 will also come with 32GB internal memory and also a 5 megapixel camera is thought to be included. The main area of interest with the N900, however, is that it will see Nokia making a departure from their favoured OS, Symbian, and instead making use of Maemo 5.
Nokia has just announced a new touchscreen handset that they plan to release, this time aimed at the low-cost entry level market. Although it is low-cost it still has a great range of features that you would expect from a more expensive phone and much of the price reduction seems to have come from the decision by Nokia to leave out Wi-Fi support.
The internet mobile phone sites are buzzed with the announced first Android mobile phone from Sony Ericsson. For a long time, we have known code name “Rachel” to be percolating a radical new phone and speculations are rife that it would be another flagship Xperia. Well, the Expansys site has gotten wind of the new phone with cool pictures and more-or-less complete feature list that’s quite impressive. Looks like Rachel will be released as the 
A relatively small British mobile phone manufacturer, Onyx, is hoping to get a foothold in the market with the release of its three new handsets. Onyx are soon to be releasing the phones, the Flip, the Slider and the Nero, in an attempt to fill in the gaps in the mobile phone market.
The Slider is also dual-sim and comes with the same benefits as the Flip because of it, but is more music oriented. There is also email functionality and a 2 megapixel camera on board. There are the same benefits for being abroad and saving money on tariffs but with more emphasis on entertainment.
One look at it and you could be thinking it’s another expensive QWERTY phone. It’s a QWERTY phone alright but certainly not expensive. Korean mobile phone maker LG is positioning its new GW300 as an entry-level QWERTY phone for the masses for release this coming September. As it should. Apart from an updated Bluetooth 2.0 and Facebook application bundled with the handset, the 
The Symbian S60-powered Nokia 6790 Slide smartphone, fondly dubbed “Surge” and “Mako” is Nokia’s answer to the social media networking crowd. Boasting of a QWERTY slider keyboard, the new handset comes pre-installed with a proprietary JuiceCaster application that allows instant access and updates on your Twitter, MySpace and Facebook sites over the internet. Its popular S60 browser comes with Java and Flash support to make surfing no different on the road as it is at home.
The Android OS gets another boost with the first Sony Ericsson mobile phone to use the new platform – Xperia X3. Code-named “Rachel” in its development stage, the new handset has a few specs already revealed in the electronics shop Expansys site. It certainly packs a wallop, apart from its gorgeous design that is sure to take the market by storm.
The GW300 is a Seriously Loaded GSM Phone